Texas took center stage at the Democratic National Convention, but don’t call it a battleground state

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CHICAGO — Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett elicited guffaws and jeers with her Donald Trump zingers. Uvalde mother Kimberly Mata-Rubio silenced the 20,000-person convention center with the sobering retelling of the day she lost her daughter to gun violence at Robb Elementary. Houston activist Olivia Julianna hyped up a group of Gen Z voters. Country music group, The Chicks, sang the national anthem.

Texans were all over the Democratic National Convention.

Nationally, leaders were sending a signal that the bench of future Democratic stars runs deep in Texas as they highlighted up and coming lawmakers like Crockett and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who is running in a tight race to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Texans who have made news for tragedy, like Mata-Rubio, were also featured on the mainstage as a cautionary tale to Democrats’ most reviled Republican policies that could be amplified under another Trump presidency.

But despite the frequent use of Texans as messengers, there is little money to go with it.

The Harris campaign confirmed this week that in its view, Texas is not a battleground, and national dollars will be prioritized toward winning in swing states.

“At the end of the day, our responsibility as a presidential campaign is to ensure we get to 270 [electoral votes],” Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said at a DNC event on Tuesday. “I would love to get to a bigger number than that, but that is all we care about."

It’s a tough pill to swallow for many of the state’s Democratic faithful.

“There is Monopoly money being spent in Florida, and they're getting red and more red and more red. They're going the wrong way,” Texas House Democratic caucus chair Trey Martinez Fischer told delegates during a delegation breakfast. “As population decreases in the Midwest continue and as states like Florida get crazier, the only place you can go for the future of the national party is Texas. When people say we're not in play … you say bullshit.”

The prominence of Texans at the convention stood in contrast to 2020, when Texans were largely left off the agenda to the vocal frustration of many of the state’s prominent Democrats. The convention was scaled back that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That year there was no speaking slot for Beto O’Rourke, despite his near miss of unseating U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz two years prior and running his own presidential campaign that year. There was no spot for Julián Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development and another 2020 presidential hopeful who had been a main stage speaker in 2016. Nor was space reserved for Wendy Davis, a darling of Texas whose 2013 filibuster against Republican abortion legislation and 2014 gubernatorial race made her a celebrity at the 2016 convention.

This year, a total of 11 Texans spoke on the mainstage, most of them new to the national spotlight.

Allred, who has strategically held Harris’ campaign at an arm’s length as he courts the center, offered his support of Harris on the mainstage, while spending most of his speech blasting Republicans, eliciting chants of “Beat Ted Cruz.” Allred was one of the few Texans who was also invited to speak in the 2020 convention.

“Texas is a young, dynamic, diverse state. We are growing incredibly rapidly. We have so much potential,” Allred said in an interview. “The story of Texas is going to be written by these young folks, and I think that it's going to be one about restoring Texas freedoms and giving the country a glimpse into who we really are.”

Crockett, a first-term member of Congress, was one of the first Texans to take the stage Monday night, delivering on her trademark wisecracks. Crockett has broken out on social media for her high-profile confrontations with Republicans during committee meetings.

“Kamala Harris has a résumé. Donald Trump has a rap sheet,” Crockett said to loud applause.

State Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch, who is running to replace Allred in Congress, said in an interview that it was exciting to see “that the torch has been passed.” Johnson previously voiced disappointment that more Texans weren’t on the 2020 convention program.

“We have a very talented bench of people running for office in the state of Texas at every level of government,” she said. “And I think it's wonderful that that youth, that energy, that vision is given a chance to rise and shine.”

In another nod to Texans influence, its influencers were given coveted mainstage speaking spots. Julianna and Carlos Eduardo Espina, who runs a Spanish-language TikTok account with over 10 million followers, were both given primetime slots where they urged younger voters to turn out.

“We can only be heard if we vote,” Julianna said from the convention floor. “As the saying goes, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. So Gen Z, let’s take our seat in our democracy and cast our ballots for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”

Texans impacted by the state’s strict abortion laws and loose gun controls also shared their stories to a national audience. They were a foil to the hope and promise of Democratic policy priorities. For a campaign that has a rallying cry of “not going back,” Texas represented the consequences of going back.

Amanda Zurawski, who sued Texas after her doctors refused to end her nonviable and dangerous pregnancy due to the state’s abortion laws, delivered a speech with her husband, Josh, as part of a joint address on abortion restrictions across the country. Abortion is one of Democrats’ leading policy areas against Republicans; they credit the issue for their ability to keep control of the Senate in 2022. Mata-Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed in the Robb Elementary Shooting, spoke with others impacted by gun violence on the main stage Thursday.

“Every time I share our story, my heart breaks,” Zurawski said. “For the baby girl we wanted desperately. For the doctors and nurses who couldn’t help me deliver her safely. For Josh, who feared he would lose me, too. But I was lucky. I lived.”

Both Zurawski and Mata-Rubio have been galvanized to politics after their experiences. Zurawski travels the country as a Harris campaign surrogate. Mata-Rubio ran for mayor of Uvalde last year, losing to former mayor Cody Smith.

“Texas has become ground zero for a lot of these really extreme laws that Republicans have prioritized in other places,” Julianna said in an interview. “When you have these people able to come address the country and say, ‘Hey, we know what you're going through, because we're dealing with it at home, and we're not giving up, so you shouldn't give up either,’ — I think that that sends a really strong message.”

But several of the state’s Democrats said at the convention that they were frustrated that they continue to not be viewed as a viable battleground worthy of investment from national party groups — even as they find Texans’ stories compelling enough to broadcast to the country.

“We have had a lot of success in getting young voters to mobilize,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, Texas Democratic Party chair. “But you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is. You've got to want the party to get young people involved and motivated and working. Not just voting, but working.”

National Democratic organizations are investing heavily in some down ballot races in the state. South Texas remains a battleground for the U.S. House, particularly the 15th Congressional District, where Democrat Michelle Vallejo is challenging U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also identified Texas as one of its top flip targets this year along with Florida.

The Democratic National Committee itself invested over $500,000 in Texas this year to finance staffing and organizing. The national committee also directs $150,000 to the Texas Democratic Party each year through its State Party Partnership program, which has steadily increased each cycle since 2016.

But with the exception of the South Texas House races, the investments by out-of-state party groups pale in comparison to spending in other states. Texas is a flip target largely because no Senate Republican incumbents in swing states are up for reelection this year. Meanwhile, Democrats need to defend exceedingly challenging seats, including in Montana and Ohio.

On the presidential level, the Harris campaign is focusing all its attention on winning the most attainable states to secure the minimum number of electoral votes to win. Texas simply does not reach that cutoff when states like Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio are on the line.

“I do consider us a battleground state, but for the purposes of getting to 270, there are states that are obviously far more critical in terms of achieving that goal,” said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat who serves as a Harris campaign co-chair.

Texas Democrats assert that the state party has proven itself just short of victory if only it had a little help. Democrats came within 3 points of winning in the 2018 Senate race. The state closed the gap with Republicans from nearly 15 points in 2012 to over 9 points in 2016 to 5 points in 2020.

“What we tell them is that, hey, we've done this by ourselves,” Hinojosa said. “We haven't gotten any help from y’all. But we can't get past the point that we need to get until the national party makes a decision to invest in Texas, and they have not.”

Hinojosa adds that he’s a “team player” and acknowledges that the presidential campaign needs to focus on its strategy to win against a candidate Democrats view as a threat to democracy. Still, he and several down ballot Texans feel the sting from years of neglect.

“The challenge of presidential campaigns is that they're always trying to win this campaign,” U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, said in an interview. “They're not trying to make sure they win the campaign four years down the road.”

Still, he conceded that having prominent Texas representation on the convention stage was a good start and optimistic signal that others may soon take the state more seriously.

“The DNC has done a good job of recognizing we need to elevate young leaders from Texas who are in it for the long haul,” Casar said, “Just as Republicans worked for decades to cement their control of the state, I think the flip to blue is going to take long-term commitment from new and rising young leaders.”

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